What did you 'find out' about cars/driving long after you passed your test?

Quiet_Spark

Understeer is when you hit a wall with the front of your car.
Oversteer is when you hit the wall with the back of your car.
Horsepower is how fast your car hits the wall.
Torque is how far your car sends the wall across the field once you've hit it.

GwylimT

Power steering, I did all my lessons in my uncles car and my instructors which didn't have power steering. After a few weeks I started driving works vehicle that did have power steering, I was driving down the road after leaving our yard and got to a bend, I pulled the wheel so hard I nearly ended up in someones house as I was used to having to put so much force on a steering wheel.

arcon5

After I passed my test many years ago... I , well, I learnt to actually drive a car and not just use it

googler

Nilrem wrote: »

Also keep a note of the recommended tyre pressures and wiper blade sizes somewhere handy in the car - I keep a little card in the sun visor with them (this one I picked up from my dealer when I noticed they'd put a little sticker in the top corner of the windscreen with the pressures and next mot/service dates one year).

Every car I've had for as long as I remember has had a sticker inside one of the door jambs or inside the petrol cap with the tyre pressures...

GwylimT

googler wrote: »

Every car I've had for as long as I remember has had a sticker inside one of the door jambs or inside the petrol cap with the tyre pressures...

As a mechanic I could probably count on one hand the number of cars I have personally come across that don't have this info in the door shuts/fuel door, they were all vintage cars.

TrickyWicky

I also learned that if you're buying a banger you have to be very choosy about what you buy and research it well.

Solid engines and gearboxes are a must when you don't have a lot of cash. Volvo, Toyota, Ford etc.

Also to join a breakdown service. It doesn't matter how reliable the car is, the human driving it can be stupid. If you crack a sump for instance you're not going anywhere without a tow truck!

wba31

I learnt how to control a skid.
Learnt to drive in a 2004 Yaris with ABS. Passed my test and paid £50 for a 1987 Nissan Micra and proceeded to drive it like it was stolen everywhere! took a few roundabouts in North Birmingham pretty quickly in the wet (mainly Kingstanding roundabout, and then the big roundabouts on Queslett Road) and spent much time correcting the direction of the car...

Shoshannah

TrickyWicky wrote: »

At the bottom in the middle most of them have a little lever. You move this forwards and the mirror flips over to a darkened mirror which dulls the headlights of the car behind.

The lever looks like this:

That's a bit of a crazy meteorological phenomenon going on in that picture! :rotfl:

I never realised that driving through a deep puddle at the side of the road will pull the car sideways. That was bloody scary the first time that happened!

Andy_L

Driving at night
Driving on motorways
Parallel parking
Driving in snow & fog

TrickyWicky

Shoshannah wrote: »

I never realised that driving through a deep puddle at the side of the road will pull the car sideways. That was bloody scary the first time that happened!

Lol I'd read about aquaplaning in the highway code but it's not until you experience it that you realise just how dangerous it is. The trouble is in many built up areas you'll never experience it. If you commute to work in another town miles away you're more likely to experience it on the A-roads etc.

Aqua planing I can handle, black ice though is lethal. First time I ever hit it I wrote off the car. I tried everything to regain control but it had already set its own course lol and yes it went with an almight bang that i'll never forget when it hit another car.